Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized long lines she found while visiting a polling site in the borough on Sunday morning to cast her own vote.
Voters had been waiting in line for several hours when the congresswoman showed up.
'There is no place in the United States of America where two-, three-, four-hour waits to vote is acceptable,' the Democrat said outside the site in Parkchester.
'And just because it's happening in a blue state, doesn't mean that it's not voter suppression. If we are waiting three hours, four hours, five hours, if this was happening in a swing state, there would be national coverage.'
'Frankly, this also shows the success of early voting as well,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'I will wait two hours just like my neighbors are.'
Currently there are 88 polling sites open around the Big Apple with many locations reporting lines stretching around the block as people queued to cast their ballots since early voting began on Saturday.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pictured emerging from the privacy booth with her filled out ballot on Sunday at an early voting station in The Bronx, New York City
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez submits her ballot after participating in early voting at a polling station in The Bronx
'And just because it is happening in a blue state doesn't mean it isn't voter suppression,' Ocasio-Cortez said. 'There is very clearly a problem. There is a lot of work to be done.
'But that being said, I am thrilled to see how many people who are overcoming this injustice. We are going to overcome this hurdle, so that we can elect the folks that make sure this is not a problem in the future,' the Representative said.
Ocasio-Cortez also took the time to post to her Instagram account while she waited in line.
She took time to film the gathered crowds who were seen stretching around the Parkchester, Bronx block.
Others that were also waiting snapped photos of her which she then reposted to her profile.
On Saturday almost 94,000 New Yorkers voted: 29,411 in Brooklyn; 19,877 in Manhattan; 19,223 in Queens; 14,928 in the Bronx; and 10,391 on Staten Island, according to the Board of Elections.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands in line with her partner and dog. She is said to have waited in line for two hours
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez uses her cellphone as she waits in line to vote early at a polling station in The Bronx
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, right, stands in line with her partner Riley Roberts and her French Bulldog named Deco as she waits to vote early in Parkchester
Ocasio-Cortez is assisted as she arrived early on Sunday to vote early at a polling station
Members of the media watch on as Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez votes
Ocasio-Cortez expressed how 'emotional' it is to vote and a 'privilege every single time'
She also made it clear that waiting in line for longer than two hours was not acceptable and a form of voter suppression
The figure was almost double the total number of people who took part in the nine days voting that was allowed during the primaries in June.
Some waiting said lines were so long Saturday they decided to come out on day two as early as 6:30am to wait until the site opened at 10am according to ABC7.
Many New Yorkers said they were voting early because they feared fraud or didn't trust the post office to handle absentee ballots.
The 2020 election could have the highest voter turnout in more than a century with an estimated 150million Americans predicted to cast their vote for the next president – the highest turnout since 1908.
Ocasio-Cortez also took the time to post to her Instagram account while she waited in line
She took time to film the gathered crowds who were seen stretching around the Parkchester, Bronx block
Others that were also waiting snapped photos of her which she then reposted to her profile
The Congresswoman is seen waiting outside the polling station petting her beloved dog
People stand in a long line wrap around the block to cast their vote at the voting site located at Madison Square Garden during early voting
Due to the coronavirus and social distancing concerns New York State is allowing early voting for the first time
On Saturday, people were pictured waiting in line to vote early on the Upper West Side of NYC
Tens of thousands of people lined up to vote early at polling sites across New York.
Lines went around the block, sometimes several times including at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn and the Upper West Side.
Some voters at West Side High School in Manhattan on West 102nd Street were in line for four hours before they were able to cast their ballots according to Gothamist.
People stand in line for early voting at The Brooklyn Museum in Brooklyn, New York
On Saturday almost 94,000 New Yorkers voted. Voters in Brooklyn are pictured
So far more than 58million Americans have already cast their ballots as of Sunday, with just nine days to go before November 3, according to the US Elections Project, with the most votes cast in Texas, California and Florida
So far more than 58million Americans have already cast their ballots as of Sunday, with just nine days to go before November 3.
University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who administers the US Elections Project, predicts a record turnout of 150 million citizens voting in the election, representing about 65 percent of eligible voters.
This year's high stakes race between Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected to eclipse the voter turnout of 2016, when approximately 137million people voted.
Despite challenges posed by the coronavirus crisis, swathes of Americans have headed to the polls and waited in long lines for early voting or mailed in their ballots.
According to the US Elections Project the most votes have been cast in Texas followed by California and Florida so far and across the nation more than 39million mail ballots have been filed and more than 18.9million in-person votes have been cast.
People wait in a line to vote at the Queens Public Library in the Jackson Heights neighborhood
Voters are pictured standing in line in front of The Brooklyn Museum
Among the votes that have poured in 49.2 percent were Democrats, 27.8 percent Republican and 22.4 percent with no party affiliation. That data only comes from states that provide party registration data.
Among the 19 states that provide party registration data, Democrat voters have returned twice the number of mail ballots, at 10.9million mail ballots, compared to Republican’s 5.1million returned mail ballots.
Across the country states have seen long lines at the polls and Americans drop off their mail ballot at secure boxes in the home stretch to Election Day.
In Georgia some people waited in line for more than 10 hours to cast their ballots, with similar sluggish lines reported in Virginia and Ohio.
In New York state, voters jammed polling places and stood in line for hours to cast ballots on the state's first day of early voting on Saturday.
In Wisconsin 1.1million people returned their ballots this week.
Texas has already surpassed 70 percent of total turnout in 2016 with 6.4million Texans, or 37.6 percent of registered voters, casting their ballots by Thursday, with nearly 90 percent of those votes cast in person. In 2016 turnout was 59.2 percent in Texas.
Experts at Decision Desk HQ, a company that processes election and early voting results, now anticipate that between 10 million to 12 million people could vote in the Lone Star state.
Voters pictured linked up waiting to cast in their early vote at The Dobbs Ferry Village Hall in Westchester County, New York on Saturday
Harriet Harris, 99, of Pekin, Illinois uses a stylus as she votes for the first time using an electronic voting machine during early voting at the Tremont Community Center in Peoria on Friday. Harris has voted in every presidential election since 1944. This year was the first time the lifelong Republican cast a ballot for a Democratic presidential candidate
The 2020 election could have the highest voter turnout in over a century with an estimated 150million Americans predicted to cast their vote for the next president – the highest turnout since 1908. Voters wearing face masks cast their ballots in a vote center at Staples Center in Los Angeles on Saturday
Derek Ryan, a GOP data analyst, predicted this week that Texas turnout would likely surpass 12 million, or roughly 3 million more voters than 2016 - more than the population of neighboring New Mexico.
'It's hard to say, "Yes, if we reach 12 million then Democrats win," because you never know,' said Abhi Rahman, a spokesman for the Texas Democratic Party. 'But on balance, yes, if we reach 12 million voters we'll win this election.'
In accordance with Gov. Greg Abbott’s order, Texas voters have an extra six days of early voting in a bid to disperse crowds at polls due to the coronavirus pandemic, instead of opting for mail-in voting as other states have.
The voting bonanza has some Democrats optimistic that decades of low turnout and undisputed Republican dominance may soon be a thing of the past.
But what that all means for Texas is far from clear. Voters don't register by party in the state, making it difficult to know which party or presidential candidate has an edge.
A supporter holds his sealed voting ballot as Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) speaks at a campaign stop at Northwest Activities Center on Sunday in Detroit, Michigan
A voter is assisted by a polling station clerk inside the Staples Center as California in-person early voting for the U.S. Presidential election begins, in Los Angeles on Saturday
People arrive to cast their ballots just after sunrise during early voting in Celebration, Florida on Sunday
In Georgia, some voters waited as long as 10 hours to cast their early vote. Voters in Gwinnett County above Saturday
Judge Lauren Ferris campaigns for reelection outside an early voting location in El Paso, Texas on Saturday
A woman walks into the Polk County Auditor's office to cast her early vote Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa
Polls are unusually close in Texas, but neither President Donald Trump nor Democrat Joe Biden has swung through Texas, focusing on clear battleground states instead like Arizona and Florida.
The striking numbers are across the board - in big cities that are solidly Democrat, in tipping-point suburbs where Republicans are losing ground and, to a lesser extent, in heavily Latino counties along the border. In Harris County, home to Houston, more than 1million votes have already been cast.
However, there have been obstacles to getting voters to cast their ballots. This week the Alabama supreme court allowed officials to ban curbside voting and in Iowa the supreme court upheld a Republican-backed law that could prevent election officials from sending thousands of mail-in ballots by making it harder for auditors to correct voter applications with omitted information, as per The Guardian.
The pandemic will likely hold major sway in how Americans vote this election as the nation saw its highest single-day coronavirus case count since late July, reporting 61,671 new cases on Saturday.
Across the country there are more than 8.5million coronavirus cases and more than 224,000 fatalities linked to the virus.
People wait in line to cast their early votes at the Polk County Auditor's office in Des Moines, Iowa. Early vote turnout in Polk County has already exceeded 2016's total
A view of the early voting line outside Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, where some people waited three hours to vote above on Saturday, the first day of early voting in the state
People line up to cast their ballots shortly after sunrise during early voting session in Celebration, Florida on Sunday
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